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Laid Barley Advice


Zimtrout
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Evening all

Got a few questions....

what is best to use ?a magnet? 

Flapper or bouncers?

How many decoys would you put out in your pattern?

I lost a dozen shot birds today? 

How do you limit your losses? (I did try and shoot them over the laid patch)

For info

The patch i shot over was 20 odd meters long, rugby ball sort of shape, wind from the right as you looked out at the laid patch, I had my hide sort of middle of the patch. birds came from all angles not just upwind. 

I am learning, please be gentle....

cheers ZT

 

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This time of year they decoy easy, magnet or floater (I prefer magnet) and about 10 decoys, you can add dead birds as you go.

Losing birds is inevitable on standing corn, have you not got a dog? don’t go searching for them unless you can pick them easy from the tram lines, or your farmer does not mind you trampling his corn.
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1 minute ago, old'un said:

This time of year they decoy easy, magnet or floater (I prefer magnet) and about 10 decoys, you can add dead birds as you go.

 

I think my pattern may have been too wide.....

I do have a dog, little cocker, he hates barley, gets his ears. 

 

Losing birds is inevitable on standing corn, have you not got a dog? don’t go searching for them unless you can pick them easy from the tram lines, or your farmer does not mind you trampling his corn.

 

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Yep, Barley can be a bit rough on dogs, take plenty of water for him.

Pattern too wide???

They may have been coming from all angles but they will always turn into the wind to land, wait and pick your shots.

 

Edited by old'un
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You must have been something right as far as decoying goes to lose a dozen , so how many did you find ? 

The only way to limit your loses is to only shoot one at a time and mark it , then walk out and try and find it straightaway , if the area is all ready laid , or partly laid , you wont be doing to much harm as today's combine will easily lift it up when cutting .

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I picked 40, i ended up doing what you say, shooting one and then picking it. even then, it was hard where you see them hit the crop aint where they are....depending on how fast they were moving, i did read somewhere that you should only shoot the fluttering ones as they dont fall to hard and vanish into the crop. 

 

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if you don't have a dog,  take a line from where you have shot through where the bird has fallen to a reference point  in the distance once in the vicinity a yard or two in either direction of set points you should have the bird,   very difficult to mark a retrieve in any crop or habitat with uniform colours  , if using a dog send your dog downwind so they can scent and turn up wind into the retrieve,     from what you have written you are not doing a lot wrong      unless you have a runner  then you need a lot of luck or a good dog 

pigeon breast sliced and diced first rate meat with pasta sauce and spaghetti , if you shoot enough sometimes second and third  servings are need , not to mention pie / casserole / bake / stir-fry,  really healthy meat  no fat 

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Bloody hell, you picked 40 and lost 12, for someone who is learning I would say that’s not a bad day, there are some on here that would be very happy to shoot 52. just keep doing what your doing and accept the fact that you will never pick all your birds in situations like that.

Good luck.:good:
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10 minutes ago, old'un said:

Bloody hell, you picked 40 and lost 12, for someone who is learning I would say that’s not a bad day, there are some on here that would be very happy to shoot 52. just keep doing what your doing and accept the fact that you will never pick all your birds in situations like that.

 

 

Good luck.:good:

He could well be brain washed with some of the big numbers posted on the forum by the likes of P C and Motty and co and maybe thinking he is doing something wrong by not posting the same , in most cases the above mentioned shots are very experienced and have got very good dog(s) , there last two posts were bags of 90 odd by Motty and Muncher , and around 100 by P C and D B , this would have roughly worked out at about 50 each , so by the op shooting 52 he knows how to decoy and over a period of time he should be able to place the decoys out to make it easier for himself to do the retrieving , although the barley field he is shooting over will soon be cut and we should see him losing a lot less when hopefully he post again . 

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3 hours ago, marsh man said:

He could well be brain washed with some of the big numbers posted on the forum by the likes of P C and Motty and co and maybe thinking he is doing something wrong by not posting the same , in most cases the above mentioned shots are very experienced and have got very good dog(s) , there last two posts were bags of 90 odd by Motty and Muncher , and around 100 by P C and D B , this would have roughly worked out at about 50 each , so by the op shooting 52 he knows how to decoy and over a period of time he should be able to place the decoys out to make it easier for himself to do the retrieving , although the barley field he is shooting over will soon be cut and we should see him losing a lot less when hopefully he post again . 

Thank you, I live and shoot in Cornwall, very few people shoot massive bags of pigeons. I am sadly not brainwashed. The day i had yesterday i will be lucky to repeat. It happened after lots of things i got right i think....

I started with good recon, watching the pigeon moving onto it to feed, then spending two hour slots on evenings watching the flight lines and a couple of short sessions just watching the field. getting the wind right, it was hard as I think it would have been even better with them decoying straight into the hide, or maybe not as when they are flying left to right looking at a magnet whirring round they perhaps didn't see me moving in the hide, The location of the field, too limited my hide options, road and railway along the top of it. I am going to try less decoys next time in a smaller arc, to try and get the birds all coming in to a similar patch. I think this will hopefully make them easier to find.  I phoned the farmer who plans to cut that barley at the end of the week, so i might manage another quick session......before he does. 

I was over the moon with the 52ish i shot, i did take some silly shots and missed some sitters but i will get there, toward the end i got 5 birds in a row, just by being patient and picking the right bird to shoot. its fun, it was baking hot i will take more water next time, i was very dehydrated..

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Well I think that the OP was cerebral in his approach which is why he did so well. 

Don't be in a hurry to shoot the field again before harvest. The pigeons will still be in the area and if they use the field when it is stubble you should pick everything you shoot.

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1 hour ago, JDog said:

Well I think that the OP was cerebral in his approach which is why he did so well. 

Don't be in a hurry to shoot the field again before harvest. The pigeons will still be in the area and if they use the field when it is stubble you should pick everything you shoot.

Good point....

 

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4 hours ago, Zimtrout said:

Thank you, I live and shoot in Cornwall, very few people shoot massive bags of pigeons. I am sadly not brainwashed. The day i had yesterday i will be lucky to repeat. It happened after lots of things i got right i think....

I started with good recon, watching the pigeon moving onto it to feed, then spending two hour slots on evenings watching the flight lines and a couple of short sessions just watching the field. getting the wind right, it was hard as I think it would have been even better with them decoying straight into the hide, or maybe not as when they are flying left to right looking at a magnet whirring round they perhaps didn't see me moving in the hide, The location of the field, too limited my hide options, road and railway along the top of it. I am going to try less decoys next time in a smaller arc, to try and get the birds all coming in to a similar patch. I think this will hopefully make them easier to find.  I phoned the farmer who plans to cut that barley at the end of the week, so i might manage another quick session......before he does. 

I was over the moon with the 52ish i shot, i did take some silly shots and missed some sitters but i will get there, toward the end i got 5 birds in a row, just by being patient and picking the right bird to shoot. its fun, it was baking hot i will take more water next time, i was very dehydrated..

Brainwashed might have been the wrong word to use and it certainly wasn't meant to be an insult , you will in time learn by your mistakes and believe you me we still make many after pigeon shooting for a good many years , there will be plenty of members who would be over the moon with a bag of 52 , more so in an area not renown for big volumes of pigeon , so well done getting a very respectable bag .

You can learn a lot by just watching pigeons going about there daily habits , mainly how they approach other pigeons feeding , time of day , crops they are feeding on and using any wind to your advantage , you say your farmer is cutting the barley this week , if that was the case I would leave it now till the combine have done it's work , if it was bailed up you would have the added advantage of getting in the middle of the field if you need to . picking up would be easy in comparison to finding them how the laid bits .

GOOD LUCK and let us know how you get on .

 

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I also live and shoot pigeons in Cornwall. The pigeons are less fluent then I used to shoot when I was living in Essex, but big numbers can be found if planning and recon is put in place. 

A bag of 52 over standing crops is a good day especially being able to pic 40. I tend to wait until the fields have been cut to prevent the loss of birds and also I hate barley becoming stuck in all sorts of body parts.  

Regarding decoying items I have stoped using magnets as I find that the bids don’t decoy as well and use ff6 flappers and the auto b with about 8 dead birds on cradles. This works very well for myself. 

Good luck in your next outing and If you want to have a day on the pigeons around the Liskeard and Saltash areas of Cornwall give me a shout. 

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4 hours ago, Kingmoaner said:

I also live and shoot pigeons in Cornwall. The pigeons are less fluent then I used to shoot when I was living in Essex, but big numbers can be found if planning and recon is put in place. 

A bag of 52 over standing crops is a good day especially being able to pic 40. I tend to wait until the fields have been cut to prevent the loss of birds and also I hate barley becoming stuck in all sorts of body parts.  

Regarding decoying items I have stoped using magnets as I find that the bids don’t decoy as well and use ff6 flappers and the auto b with about 8 dead birds on cradles. This works very well for myself. 

Good luck in your next outing and If you want to have a day on the pigeons around the Liskeard and Saltash areas of Cornwall give me a shout. 

Some good pointers thank you, I concur re barley........

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